Erik Cain joined the Marines to get off death row. The deal was simple; enlist to fight in space and he would be pardoned for all his crimes.

In the 23rd Century, assault troops go to war wearing AI-assisted, nuclear-powered armor, but it is still warriors and blood that win battles. From one brutal campaign to the next, Erik and his comrades fight an increasingly desperate war over the resource rich colony worlds that have become vital to the economies of Earth's exhausted and despotic Superpowers.

As Erik rises through the ranks he becomes a deadly warrior, and he finally finds a home, first with the Marines who fight at his side and later among the colonists - men and women who have dared to leave everything behind to build a new society on the frontier, one where the freedoms and rights lost long ago on Earth are preserved.

But causes can be fleeting, imperfect things. Amidst the blood and death and sacrifice, Erik begins to wonder. Is he fighting the right war? And who is the real enemy?

The First Book of Jay Allan's Bestselling Crimson Worlds Series (over 800,000 books sold)...

Now Included: A sneak peek at Crimson Worlds 2: The Cost of Victory. Read the first three chapters, immediately following the end of Marines in this Kindle edition.

The Crimson Worlds Series (Reading Order)

Book 1: MarinesBook 2: The Cost of VictoryBook 3: A Little RebellionBook 4: The First ImperiumBook 5: The Line Must HoldBook 6: To Hell's HeartBook 7: The Shadow LegionsBook 8: Even Legends DieBook 9: The Fall

Standalone, Can be Read at Any Point:Red Team Alpha (A Crimson Worlds Adventure)

Audible book Switch back and forth between reading the Kindle book and listening to the Audible book with Whispersync for Voice. Add the Audible book for a reduced price of $7.49 when you buy the Kindle book.

"Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress"
Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? Cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, and instead, follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise. Learn more

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

An hommage to starship troopers. The armor and weapons are very similar and even the structure of the story telling is comparable. You are thrown into the fight with Erik on his first space insertion and battle, then returned to his earlier life. This is the first time you see the corrupt and dysfunctional dystopian future America. Later you find out the rest of the word and its superpowers are just as bad.

Erik is saved by the corps and becomes an outstanding soldier and this is when the story starts to take off. About 2/3rds of the way through Erik and the reader find out more about the earth and its deterioration into corruption and disparity.

Unlike the description, the book ends with the main character still in the marines and not with the colonists. I’m sure this is part of the next book. If you are thrown by the politics or structure the battles, you should read the last 20% first. It contains an explanation of the superpowers and how they came into being. It also outlines the marine’s structure and fighting organizing. It doesn’t have any spoilers, but may help the reader.

I got this as a free download recently. As Space Opera goes it was okay. It's full of every cliché about Space Marines ever written and the action is a little tedious because it keeps going on and on and there really isn't the character development that I like in this kind of book. If you like your books that way you probably will like the book a lot more than I did.

The book loses a star for two reasons. First, the first part of the book reminds me very much of Starship Troopers. (The enemies are humans, not "Bugs," but idea of the books is very similar.) Second, the main character is a bit of a Marty Stu. He's amazing! He wins awards! He flies up the ranks!

What really makes up for those two flaws is the writing. Under it all, the book is a really good read. I got absorbed in this book to the point of not wanting to go to sleep. The main character is fleshed out as a person.

The quality of writing by Jay Allen is some of the best I have ever had the privilege of reading the action scenes he describes are so intense that you will continue reading even though you have some thing to do or some place you need to be his development of characters is complete down to the smallest detail he develops them in a way to make it seem like they are real people this is a adventure that can only be excelled by the next book in this series. The cost in money and time can’t be spent better reading anything else as I say it is worth the investment in time and money.

This is the kind of storyline I love. You give enough backstory to let us know how the characters have gotten to where they are now without taking away the main story. This a long series , so it will take me some time to get thru it all. Thank you for a good engaging story, Danny Scott.

This book has a surprising beginning: instant warfare. It's an exciting book with good characters. I liked the details of the gassing of civilians and the way Erik Cain met his wife: those were good ways to set up the rest of the series.

The battles were good. The good guys had not one, but two tactical geniuses on their side. Books two and three lived up to the promise of this book. Looking forward to book four.

This book is far from perfect but I still liked it. I think it is a decent start of a new, for me at least, series. As the book blurb states Eric Cain joins the marines to escape his death penalty. What it does not say it that his death penalty is really a consequence of the unbelievably undemocratic, despotic North Korean like government on Earth. For Eric becoming a marine and getting away from Earth turns out to be a blessing.

The core story of the book is quite okay. There is, of course, a lot of marine style ground action going on and not so much happening in space but it is still good reading. I think the part of the background story with the despotic and corrupt government back on Earth is not the best part of the book, a bit depressing actually, but in the end it actually do not get to play a major role in the book except to kick it off so I can live with it.

The main problem with this book is that a lot of it reads like a report and not an adventure book. Sometimes events are just stacked one after another and told as a matter of fact with no or little feeling in it. First I did that then we did that and then we did another thing and then we won the fight…next chapter. First we did that then we did that… and so on for several pages. I do not know if this was the author’s first book or not but it certainly feels like it. Actually I have already read the next book in the series so I know for a fact that he has improved in this area.

Overall it is a worthwhile book to read if you like marine Sci-Fi. As I have already mentioned I am continuing to read the next books in this series.

Well written and cohesive this book details what may some day come to be. A excellent read when being seen from the viewpoint of the main chracter the book slows down a bit as the political cloak and dagger emerges. This section is necessary to the establishment of the series but is somewhat predictable, indeed it is a case of history, albeit a high tech history, repeating itself. Overall a good read with a lot of battle action.